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History |
The beginnings of S.R. 293 date to the extension of Georgia's first four-lane highway, U.S. 41. The old Dixie Highway was becoming very crowded, and it was before the era of interstates, so the solution in that era was to build U.S. 41 on new location with four lanes. When the new route was completed, the old route remained on the state highway system to serve the towns replaced by the new four lane highway. This was no different for the route between Marietta and Emerson when S.R. 293 was created in 1953 over the older route of U.S. 41. S.R. 293, however, never followed the entire length of Old U.S. 41 from Marietta northward. No cities were served on the portion west of U.S. 41 from Kennesaw to Marietta, so the new designation was only assigned to the part east of U.S. 41 through Kennesaw and Acworth in Cobb County. In 1952, this stretch remained as S.R. 3 while work was being completed on the new road to Emerson. The new S.R. 293 designation was likely held back because U.S. 41 that year terminated briefly back into the old route where today Old S.R. 293 and Third Army Road intersect.
When the new route of U.S. 41 was later extended northward on new location east of Cartersville on a new by-pass in 1955, S.R. 293 to all appearances was extended north where it is today up to former U.S. 411 (today S.R. 293 Connector). However, in 1962, S.R. 293 was either already moved or at least shown to be moved to the U.S. 41 Cartersville By-Pass. Confusingly, S.R. 3, the overlap of U.S. 41, was moved back onto the old route. The two routes literally switched places at the Emerson interchange! Part of this was most likely due to the retention of Old U.S. 41 through Cartersville as U.S. 41 Business from 1957-1966 (1). It is not clear how long the Cartersville arrangement lasted, but it looks as if in 1970 that S.R. 3, by then independent of U.S. 41 Business, was switched to current U.S. 41 like the rest of the highway. It must be noted that U.S. 411 was also relocated in 1962 onto a new route between Cartersville and Rome. As a result, this was partially a result of a route change for another major highway. Also, as a result of that same project, part of what is today S.R. 293 south of Cassville was relocated further south to accommodate the new interchange of U.S. 41 and the new location of U.S. 411 (also see S.R. 344). Bearden Road today follows part of the original roadway.
While U.S. 411 was placed on new alignment in the early 1960's, S.R. 293 was not immediately extended past Cassville. From 1963-1977, S.R. 20 was retained along Old U.S. 411 from Cassville to Rome with S.R. 293 ending where today it meets S.R. 293 Connector. In 1977, however, S.R. 20 was reunited with U.S. 411 along the newer route and S.R. 293 was then extended substantially to end in Rome. The change of S.R. 20 to S.R. 293 directly coincided with the relocation of the highway in Rome to a four lane road completed a couple years earlier. This project entailed relocating part of Kingston Road in Rome on a new four-lane location south of the former road, which joined S.R. 53 (now Calhoun Road) to the north and east of where S.R. 293 meets S.R. 53 today. This served a dual purpose of creating not only a more direct route for S.R. 293, but also to move the former connection away from the existing S.R. 53, which was relocated only a couple years later. See the additional maps below for a detailed map of this.
From the 1970's to the 1990's, the aging condition of the Old Dixie Highway was apparent. The original roadway had been constructed during the 1920's and 1930's including many bridges, and it endured very heavy traffic prior to the 1950's. As a result, numerous bridge widenings and replacements commenced on the highway between Rome and Kennesaw. In Kennesaw, a bridge over the railroad tracks was built in 1975 though it is not known if this replaced a former bridge or was a relocation of the highway. In 1977, the Proctor Creek bridge in Acworth originally built in 1927 was widened as well. From 1978-1981, all of the bridges were either replaced or widened along Kingston Highway and Cassville Road in addition to the widening of the 1940 Allatoona Creek bridge south of Cartersville. Next, in 1984, the 1928 Etowah River bridge was doubled. In 1991, the Nancy Creek bridge was replaced with a new culvert. Lastly, in 1992 the two Pumpkinvine Creek bridges in Emerson, both extremely narrow and protected by double guardrails, were completely rebuilt.
After the numerous improvements to the route, the state began the process of eliminating parts of the highway. First, the entire route in Cobb County was eliminated in 1991, truncating the highway to where it ended at the Bartow County line less than a mile north of S.R. 92. The portion from the Bartow County line to U.S. 41 in Emerson lasted only six years longer, decommissioned in 1997. 1997 also was when S.R. 293 was widened in East Rome from the end of the 1974 four lane at Old Kingston Road east to then-recently built S.R. 1 Loop. While the original highway is gone and most of the Old Dixie Highway now substantially modernized, there is still parts of the road that are older including sandwiched 1920's-era bridges. The last major bridge project yet to commence is the badly needed replacement of the two extremely narrow 1928 railroad underpasses in Cartersville. Looking at S.R. 293 today, it may reasonably be said that the history that the original highway created is now mostly gone, and soon S.R. 293 will be as well when modernization is finished. Unfortunately, modern drivers will never be able to truly experience the historic aspects of the route. OTHER MAPS
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